Card-supporting artificial christmas trees for christmas card displays



March 28, 1961 N. PHILLIPS 2,976,632

CARD-SUPPORTING ARTIFICIAL CHRISTMAS TREES FOR CHRISTMAS CARD DISPLAYS Filed 001:. 1959 fvw: lvrara Max/01.1w PIILLIP CARD-SUPPORTIYG ARTIFICIAL CHRISTMAS TREES FGR CHRISTMAS CARD DISPLAYS Nicholas Phillips, 6 Allonsius Drive, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Filed Oct. 8, 1959, Ser. No. 845,193

2 Claims. (Cl. 40-124) mas cards may extend over approximately one-twelfth of a year and it is highly desirable to have a practical and inexpensive means for displaying the cards and maintaining them in their displayed condition.

A primary object of this invention is to provide in an artificial Christmas tree a limb construction including means facilitating the continued display of Christmas cards or the like.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved tree limb incorporating integral clamp means and having a construction facilitating opening of said clamp means whereby a Christmas card or the like may be supported therein.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description. In the drawing there is shown several embodiments of the invention.

In this showing:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a fragmentary portion of a Christmas tree having a novel card-retaining limb projecting substantialy horizontally therefrom, with a portion broken away and shown in section for purposes of clarity;

Figure 2 is an enlarged cross section taken substantially on line 2-2 of Figure l; and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary elevational view similar to a portion of Figure 1, showing a modified form of limb for a Christmas tree.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, a fragmentary portion of a Christmas tree is indicated generally at 10, said tree being constructed of a suitable form retaining resilient material such as rubber or the like. e.g.a suitable plastic.

The tree includes a trunk 12 from which radiate a plurality of horizontally disposed limbs 14, which are of similar construction, and thus only one will be described in detail. The limbs 14 are designed to simulate a natural tree and include intermediate enlarged portions 16 which include a reduced section portion 18 forming a circumferential slot 20. The enlarged portions 16 provide an increased gripping area for clampingly engaging the up per, lower or side edge of a card C and retaining it in a ed States Patent Patented Mar. 28, 1961 plane substantially normal to the limb or parallel to the trunk 12, this being a desirable position from which it may be viewed. The limb portions 22 comprise levers which aid the bending of the limb at the slots due to the reduced sections 18 to facilitate the insertion and removal of the cards from the slots.

Considering Figure 3, the tree 10' includes, integral with the trunk 12', limbs 14 having lever portions 22' for the purpose heretofore mentioned. Formed in the enlarged portions 16 is a longitudinally extending slot 24 which communicates or intersects a vertically extending lateral slot or slit 20' which extends into the upper surface of the limb 14' and receives the lower edge of the card C therein. Thus the slot or slit 20' is transversely disposed and the slit portions of the limb provide opposed card-clamping jaws. The portion 18' beneath the slots 20', 24 is of reduced cross-section and is comparable to portion 18 previously described and is slightly stiffer or stronger than portion 18. The lever portions 22' may be utilized to bend the limb 14' at 18' to remove or insert a card C in the slot 20', the adjacent or opposed portions of the slot serving as clamping portions on the card, as already recounted. Desirably the slot or slit 20 should not extend inwardly from a side of the limb for a depth substantially more than half the thickness of the limb at the. slit area thereof.

Thus there has been disclosed an artificial tree including novel limbs which facilitate the display of cards or the like, it being understood that other items might replace the cards, for example, items such as gloves, pencils, etc.

It is to be understood that the forms of the invention shown and described are to be taken as examples of the invention and that various changes in the size, shape and arrangement of the cooperating portions may be made as do not depart from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. In an artificial tree, an elongated limb of a resilient form retaining material having a general longitudinal axis, and article-engaging and clamping means formed integrally in said limb for receiving a card or the like and supporting the same in a plane generally normal to the longitudinal axis of said limb, said clamping means comprising a transverse slit extending inwardly of said limb from a side thereof for a depth not substantially more than half the thickness of said limb at the slitted portion, said slit at its bottom merging into a slot formed in said limb and extending away from a side of said slit in a direction longitudinally of said limb, the slit portion of said limb providing opposed card-clamping jaws and said slot providing at its end remote of said slit a fulcruming area at which flexing of the limb takes place to open said clamping jaws with a lever-like action when adjacent limb portions are relatively bent to the required degree in a direction oppositely to said slit.

2. The structure of claim 1, wherein said limb is supplied with a plurality of said article-engaging and clamping means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

